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by roisinn



Series: Andreil (mostly) Prompts [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: 2.6k words of me rambling oops, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Prompt Fic, not sorry, pro team, they are soft & they love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 21:47:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14578359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roisinn/pseuds/roisinn
Summary: Prompt: Andrew and Neil having their first proper hugorAndrew's on a pro team & hasn't seen Neil for weeks





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**Author's Note:**

> And by prompt, I mean I prompted myself because there is an outrageous shortage of this specific fic and them being soft and affectionate is my kink sorry.
> 
> I’m sad that my school break is over so I wrote this instead of a third chapter for my coffee shop au because I’m already struggling with the story line send help.

The vinyl floor beneath his racing feet drummed along with the beat of his heart. He could feel his legs beginning to ache with exhaustion as the team finished up their cool-down laps around the court. Andrew took a long sip of water before laying down on the bench to catch his breath. The rest of team team chatted aimlessly while filing into the change rooms.

“Good practice today Minyard.” His coach called out from halfway across the court.

Andrew blew out a blew out a breath and dug his palms into his eyes.

“You know if you keep this up I think we’re gonna do pretty well this season.” He said approvingly, now standing near his feet. Andrew ignored him in favour of getting up and heading to get changed. He heard a defeated sigh from behind him but didn’t turn to offer any reassurances.

When he saw Damian standing in the way of his locker, talking obnoxiously loud, Andrew had to physically restrain himself from throwing his helmet straight into the backliner's head. Instead, he shoved passed and quickly put his gear away and grabbed his stuff and headed to the showers. He’d been playing with his pro team, who had been eager to sign him straight out of college, for almost 8 months now. Neil was still coaching the foxes at Palmetto while Andrew was stuck here by himself almost 1000 miles away, still playing fucking stickball.

It had taken a while to get used to, being all alone in an apartment by himself. Not waking up to the sound of breathing in the room around him, no one rustling around or chatting in the kitchen, just him and the hum of the traffic outside.

It had now been 6 weeks, 5 days and 7 hours, since he had last seen Neil. Not that he’d been counting. Of course they visited each other whenever they could, weekends here and there. But it wasn’t the same. He’d never admit it, but he missed Neil’s presence. He missed the understanding. Nobody here understood him. One look at his stone cold glare and defensive posture, and they saw a threat. It didn’t really bother him though, he liked to keep to himself. The team was mostly full of idiots anyway.

Andrew stood in the shower and let the hot water run down his face. He could feel the pull of the muscles in his arms as he reached up to wash his hair. To put it simply, he was exhausted. He’d found that going harder during practice was starting to help block out some of his thoughts. Actually pushing himself during drills, rather than doing the bare minimum required by his coach. He thought Kevin would be proud.

There was no point in wasting his time wanting something he couldn’t have, thats just the way things were now, and he’d have to learn to accept it one way or another. It annoyed him to his very core that he’d become so dependant on Neil during their last few years at Palmetto. This was the longest that they had spent apart since they’d met. Lately, every single time one of them had break from travel or practice, the other would always have a game to go to or prepare for, which annoyed them to no end.

Andrew still stood by his statement that Neil wasn’t his answer. He never had been and he never would be. But that didn’t change the fact that he had to go home to an empty apartment every day.

It shouldn’t have bothered him really, Andrew Minyard didn’t want anything. Certainly not the company of a wide-eyed, exy obsessed, loud-mouthed boy. But that was the thing, _he did_.

Andrew turned the water off and slammed his fist into the wall. It would probably bruise later, _good_ he thought. Maybe it’d teach him from being such an idiot.

The locker room was empty when he emerged so he quickly changed into some sweats and a long sleeved t-shirt and made his way out of the stadium. His coach Mark tried to stop him to engage in a conversation with their team captain but he waved them off and kept walking out the main doors.

As he got to his car, instead of getting in he decided to take a seat on the hood and have a smoke. The sky was dark and cloudy that looked like it was about to rain at any given moment. Andrew lit up his cigarette and pulled out his phone to check his notifications. Most of them were nonsense from various social medias that he ignored, with a few messages from Nicky here and there. He went onto Neil’s contact on iMessage and started to type out a message before giving up and deleting it. Usually he and Neil would talk to each other on the phone every day or two and message constantly in-between. It’d now been 6 days since he’d last heard Neil’s voice and even then texts had been few and far between.

Andrew knew it wasn’t fair to be annoyed at him. He was busy managing an entire team as well as schoolwork. He was preoccupied. It wasn’t as if Neil’s whole life centred around him.

Just as he put his phone back into his pocket it chimed with a notification. It was a message from Neil. His heart missed a beat upon seeing the name, which bothered him so much he debated throwing the phone onto the ground without even opening the text. He took another drag of his cigarette before flicking it onto the ground and opening the message.

_game on sun has been cancelled. U going 2 b home this wknd?_

Andrew wondered what Neil did with all the time he saved not typing properly.

_Yes._

_i can get a refund for the ticket if ur busy or whatevr_

Andrew rolled his eyes.

_What time do you get here?_

_11:30am_

_Okay._

He pocketed the phone, got into his car and drove home. If during the drive, it felt like there was a weight that had been lifted off his chest, that was no one business but his own.

                                                                                                           *

Andrew woke to the pleasant sound of construction workers hammering in the apartment below him.

The clock on his bedside table read 6:44. _This cant be legal on a Saturday_ he thought as his groaned into his pillow. There was no point of going back to sleep so he got up and padded down the hallway into the kitchen to make some coffee. Andrew leaned back on the counter and looked around the room while the coffee brewed. The apartment itself wasn’t large and was sparsely decorated, a couple of bookshelves that Neil insisted on him buying to store his ever-growing collection of books that had previously began to clutter up his bedroom. There was a large black couch in the lounge room and a coffee table scattered with more books and papers and an assortment of other random knick knacks. The walls were all painted white and kept bare, something that Andrew had done himself; it almost soothed him in a way that he couldn’t really explain. The lounge room had a door that slid open onto a small balcony. The view was hardly anything spectacular, but it was handy when he needed a smoke and definitely beat breaking into another roof access locked door.

Andrew wasn’t sure what it was about living alone for the first time, but the thought of it always gave him a weird feeling. It might not have been the most luxurious or even homely place he’d ever been, but it was entirely his, which is something he wasn’t sure he’d ever have.

There was only one bedroom and one bathroom, but thats all he needed for now. He supposed eventually, when Neil had graduated and they found a better system for whatever 'this' wasn’t, that they’d probably get a place to live together. The thought made Andrew shiver. Of course he’d lived with Neil for several years back at Palmetto, hell they even shared a bed for a good portion of it, but there was a difference between living with someone and _living with someone_.

He poured a cup of coffee, decided to grab a random novel from off one of the shelves, and settled down into the couch in an attempt to keep himself entertained. The book itself had been a gift from Aaron. Andrew wasn’t sure which one of them would’ve been more surprised that he was actually reading it. By all accounts it sounded dumb; a story about an immortal woman and loss and friendship or something of the like, but the next time Andrew looked up he was closing the last page of the book and setting it down on the table.

The coffee had gone cold, with barely even a sip taken out of it. He checked his phone. There was a message from Neil with more details about the flight which he quickly scanned over before getting up to take a shower. He dressed in dark skinny jeans and a black jumper, with a black coat overtop. He briefly looked in the mirror, a cheery outfit if he’d ever had one.

Andrew didn’t really even need to leave for at least another half an hour of so, but he could see himself getting fidgety sitting in the apartment and waiting.

When he stepped outside, he was greeted by a blast of cold air and heavy rain. Fantastic he thought as he pulled his hood up and made a beeline for the car. Once inside, he shedded his coat and blasted the heaters on. Andrew had to restrain himself from putting his foot down and racing down the highway. It was only a short drive to the airport so he was there, parked and standing at the arrivals gate within 35 minutes.

There was a faint feeling of butterflies in his stomach which made him feel sick so he bought a coffee and downed that within another 5 minutes. That was probably a mistake as he now felt even more jittery than before. He stood drumming his fingers on his leg and staring at the door for at least 20 minutes before finally the right set of passengers started filing through.

He spotted Neil almost immediately, dressed in grey sweatpants and a dark blue hoodie with the hood pulled up, presumably to cover his hair. Even now, Andrew knew how much Neil always liked to attract as little attention to himself as physical possible. He seemed to be in the middle of a phone call, probably with Kevin judging by the frown on his face. Even from here he could see the dark circles under his eyes that made it look like he hadn’t had a decent night sleep for at least a week and his posture seemed almost as tense as when he'd first met him.

When his his eyes finally landed on Andrew, his entire face light up with a grin as he flipped the phone shut. The sight caused a blossom of warmth through his chest which he was sure made a small blush up his neck and he was suddenly grateful Neil couldn’t see him up close.

They both pushed through the crowd as fast as they could would out literally breaking out into a jog before coming to a stop right in front of each other. They seemed to stare for an eternity or possibly only a couple of seconds, before Neil finally broke he silence.

“Yes or n-“

Andrew cut him off before he finished by stepping forward and wrapping his arms around his neck. Neil seemed hesitant to reciprocate but then dropped his bag and firmly wrapped his arms around Andrew’s waist when he breathed a “yes Neil” into his ear. The two clung to each other for an age as if it was the last time they’d ever see one and other. A couple of people looked over at them as they walked past so Andrew closed hid eyes buried his face into Neil’s shoulder and let out a shaky breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. He could faintly smell the cologne that Andrew had bought him the previous year, but mostly he smelled like familiarity, like home. They weren’t exactly the most publicly affectionate couple so he guessed this was a small step forward in their relationship. Besides, he couldn’t really complain being pressed so tightly against Neil’s body, soaked in his warmth and wrapped in his arms.

“God I missed you.” Neil muttered into his shoulder with a sigh, which sent a shiver up Andrew’s spine.

They finally let go and Neil had that look in his eyes. The one that made his head swim and chest ache. So open and so honest, as if he’d trust Andrew with every secret he’d ever held. Andrew couldn’t help it, he reached forward to grabbed the front of Neil’s hoodie and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. He felt Neil sigh into his mouth and had to resist from taking him apart right there and then. He pulled back after a few seconds after remembering that they were in fact standing in the middle of a public space.

“Stop looking at me like that.” Andrew warned, but held his palm up to Neil anyway, who smiled and linked their fingers together as they walked out to the car.

The drive itself was mostly quiet after Neil’s few minutes of idle chatter died out, but it was a comfortable silence. Eventually he just leant his head against the window and stared out at the falling rain. Not that Andrew was looking at him anyway. He reach across to grab Neil’s hand again and pressed a light kiss against his knuckles. He didn’t dare look at the expression on his face after that, but still kept a hold of his hand as he stared straight ahead at the road. He felt the weight of Neil’s gaze on him the rest the way home.

That night the two of them slept more soundly than they had in weeks.

                                                                                                             *

Andrew opened his eyes the next morning to see Neil already awake looking at him. His hair a messy contrast against the pillow, sticking up all over the place, and his face relaxed and soft from sleep.

Andrew opened his mouth to chide him for staring but the words died on his tongue and he realised it’d be a hypocritical statement if anything. Neil smirked at him as if he knew exactly what he was thinking and shuffled over in the bed so he was only a few inches away from Andrew’s face.

“Think it’s a nice day for a run?" He asked.

Andrew had half the mind to push him off the bed. “It’s still raining idiot.”

Neil paused and looked up for a second as if listening out to determine the truthfulness of his statement. He turned back to Andrew with a grim expression, he wasn’t very good at acting.

“That’s a shame. I guess I’ll just have to stay here with you then.”

“Only if that doesn’t interrupt any of your plans, Josten.” Andrew mocked, slowly moving even closer to Neil.

Neil turned to the ceiling and hummed, pretending to consider his words. “I could probably pencil you in, if you’re lucky.”

“Lucky?” Andrew scoffed. He grabbed Neil’s chin between his fingers and turned his smirking face towards him.

“Yes or no?” Neil’s yes slipped out as their lips met in the middle.

The kiss was slow and sweet, something that didn’t happen often. Most of the time their kisses were intense and heavy, all hot hands and gasping breaths. But this was nothing like that. This was the tender brushing of fingers through hair, the quiet intakes of breath, the kind of kiss that made Andrew’s heart squeeze in a way he could never have imagined. _This_ wasn’t nothing. _This was home._

**Author's Note:**

> This weeks addition of how little dialogue can I physically fit into a fic??? I really need to work on that.
> 
> Listen the prompt was pretty clear but 99% of the fic is non-prompt ramblings idk what happened honesty.
> 
> Any comments/criticisms are thoroughly welcome!


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